2022 Is Almost Here!
TITLE: Soylent Green
GENRE: SciFi Detective - near term
CAST: Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Edward G Robinson, Chuck Connors, Joseph Cotten, Brock Peters, Paula Kelly, Celia Lovsky and Dick Van Patten
PLOT: In an overcrowded 2022 world, a detective is set to discover the reason for an assassination. The world's resources are used up, so there is no longer paper for record keeping. He must rely on old school skills and old teachers, librarians and judges to have any clues to past records. He discovers that the world's oceans are dying and that the plankton we are told is the source of nutrition is the biggest lie man has ever told.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT: 9 of 10; the only drawback is that the cinematography is lacking. The story is ace stuff. The costumes, sets, interiors artistic presentation of the idea of overcrowding are excellent. This was Joseph Cotten's last movie. E.G. Robinson's 101st movie. The character development fits the tale. and the dialogue contains one of the most recognizable quotes in Hollywood history, "Soylent Green is...". Well, watch it and find out!
DVD BONUS: Behind the scenes of the making, a brief Heston SciFi filmography, trailers and dubbed observations by Taylor-Young and Richard Fleischer, the director
ADDED NOTES: Based on Harry Harrison's novel "Make Room! Make Room!". The lack of what we call food is really perfectly conveyed by the expressions from Heston and Robinson when they get to see some. The particulars of the suicide center are a must see. This movie is closer to an accurate prediction of life fifty years into the future than 1984 was! The wikipedia entry calls this movie a 'dystopian' look, so just to find out what dystopian means is worth the time. This was the last film produced on the back lot of Warner Bros Studios!